Celtics exposed?

[LloydFree]

Could be worse— they couldve spent it on Markelle Fultz and Zhaire Smith.

What’s wrong with Zhaire? After almost dying last year and losing 30 lbs, he’s back up to speed and looks great.

As for Fultz, we should have held onto him instead of trading him to ORL for garbage, but Lloyd of all people won’t agree with that.

Whats wrong with Langford or Grant Williams?

Nothing is wrong with Romeo Langford. I actually like his upside and think he's an underrated prospect. Grant Williams is a whole bunch of nothing though. Jared Dudley at best.

[SmartWentCrazy]

What’s wrong with Zhaire? After almost dying last year and losing 30 lbs, he’s back up to speed and looks great.

As for Fultz, we should have held onto him instead of trading him to ORL for garbage, but Lloyd of all people won’t agree with that.

Whats wrong with Langford or Grant Williams?

I didn’t say anything about those guys, and frankly I haven’t watched them enough to say

Theres nothing wrong with Smith. Im legitimately happy hes recovered because he nearly died and not enough people are aware of that. Im actually rooting for him. Hes super raw, and losing most of a year really hurts, but hes got off the charts athleticism.

My point was moreso that if youre going to clown on the Celtics for not trading youth/picks for stars, i’m gonna clown back.

[SmartWentCrazy]

What’s wrong with Zhaire? After almost dying last year and losing 30 lbs, he’s back up to speed and looks great.

As for Fultz, we should have held onto him instead of trading him to ORL for garbage, but Lloyd of all people won’t agree with that.

Whats wrong with Langford or Grant Williams?

Nothing is wrong with Romeo Langford. I actually like his upside and think he's an underrated prospect. Grant Williams is a whole bunch of nothing though. Jared Dudley at best.

Williams is a system player. Hes got some skill on offense as a short roll passer and should be able to hit threes based on mechanics and FT% indicators. The Celtics are hoping he can turn into a facsimile of PJ Tucker, with slightly more offensive skill and less defensive switchability.

Hes a low ceiling pick that came unexpectedly — no one thought LAC would make the playoffs — cheap role players are quite useful. No one is expecting more.

[PistolPeteJR]

Celts are a playoff team but the interior defense is definitely an issue. Kanter isn't going to start though, they'll have someone in there for defensive purposes, whether it ends up being RW3, Grant Williams, Theis, Poirier, or whoever. There's been one preseason game so lots of things to work out but losing Al makes it really tough defensively. What I'm pretty sure of though is that Marcus Smart has to start next to Kemba and right now it looks like Hayward would be the odd one out of the starting lineup. I think Tatum and Brown can play better defense than Hayward and I'm not sure they need Gordon's offense with the starting unit.

Tacko Fall ? He has the height & rim protection

And -42 stamina.

[robbie84]

I didn't understand why they shipped Baynes to Phoenix in what was basically a salary dump.
The guy is an excellent big defender and rim protector. They couldn't have found a use for that, at least situationally?

Was it because they thought they'd have horford or was he already gone at that point?

[Curmudgeon]

The needed to clear salary to sign Kemba. This is not rocket science.

[LloydFree]

Whats wrong with Langford or Grant Williams?

Nothing is wrong with Romeo Langford. I actually like his upside and think he's an underrated prospect. Grant Williams is a whole bunch of nothing though. Jared Dudley at best.

Williams is a system player. Hes got some skill on offense as a short roll passer and should be able to hit threes based on mechanics and FT% indicators. The Celtics are hoping he can turn into a facsimile of PJ Tucker, with slightly more offensive skill and less defensive switchability.

Hes a low ceiling pick that came unexpectedly — no one thought LAC would make the playoffs — cheap role players are quite useful. No one is expecting more.

Whatever Grant Williams will ever be able to give, even at his peak, you can get in any given off-season from a minimum salary veteran. Shoulda selected Mfiondu Kabangele for more upside, and he would have offered more potential to help with the issue the OP brought up with this thread. JMO.

[dorkestra]

I can't imagine they make it to the trade deadline without addressing rim protection, but Ainge has been known to hold out for what he thinks is the perfect deal.

[SmartWentCrazy]

Nothing is wrong with Romeo Langford. I actually like his upside and think he's an underrated prospect. Grant Williams is a whole bunch of nothing though. Jared Dudley at best.

Williams is a system player. Hes got some skill on offense as a short roll passer and should be able to hit threes based on mechanics and FT% indicators. The Celtics are hoping he can turn into a facsimile of PJ Tucker, with slightly more offensive skill and less defensive switchability.

Hes a low ceiling pick that came unexpectedly — no one thought LAC would make the playoffs — cheap role players are quite useful. No one is expecting more.

Whatever Grant Williams will ever be able to give, even at his peak, you can get in any given off-season from a minimum salary veteran. Shoulda selected Mfiondu Kabangele for more upside, and he would have offered more potential to help with the issue the OP brought up with this thread. JMO.

IMO, Kabangele is out of the league before his rookie contract expires. Big men who cant rebound, pass or finish at the rim dont have long careers. His poor rebounding wouldnt solve any issues for the team.

I hear your larger point, but respectfully disagree— dudes like PJ Tucker are not available every year and are also very valuable to have.

[Prokorov]

First preseason game with a 16 man rotation seemingly random for a reason (brad likes to throw out many different looks to get data on what works and what doesn't) and what we get out of it is "celtics exposed"? Keep doing you GB.

At least this is a step up from the NBA2k low rated bench thread. Oh yeah, we won the game. Did we win the preseason yet or get some award for that?

the data on what doesnt work is playing any of the bigs on the exsisting roster.

thats an issue

[ballup]

Standard reminder that there is no 'ESPN'--the network employs dozens of writers and personalities, many of whom are idiots and some of whom are pretty sharp. Saying 'BSPN' did X or Y makes no sense since there's virtually nothing Kevin Pelton and Zach Lowe are going to agree with Skip Bayless and Ryan Hollins about.

There is also this quote from a "BSPN" story in July. Plenty of people, including on ESPN, saw this coming, so his comment is a typical strawman. From https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27189056/nba-power-rankings-league-best-teams-now :

It will be much more difficult to make up for losing Horford. Enes Kanter will likely be Boston's starting center, with second-year big man Robert Williams III, Frenchman Vincent Poirier and German Daniel Theis behind him. They will give Boston a few ways to play, but not nearly at the same level of skill and poise that Horford, one of the league's most versatile bigs, did. That, in turn, puts a ceiling on just how good Boston can be -- regardless of how much growth the Celtics get from young wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

No mention of Baynes or Morris.

It's a quick rundown article. Of course it doesn't go into discussing Morris or Baynes. The Utah one doesn't go into the losses of Favors nor do the Blazers on Aminu/Haukless.

Also from that article:

Key subtractions: Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Morris, Aron Baynes

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[Curmudgeon]

Kanter isn't going to be the Celtics starting center.

[dorkestra]

Kanter isn't going to be the Celtics starting center.

will it be bob williams?

[Djh7475]

Kanter is going to come off the bench and own offensively and on the boards against bench bigs. Theiss, Pourrier, and Robert Williams are all defensive-minded bigs. Theiss was out in game 1 with injury and Pourrier didn’t get much run. Rob will take some minutes to get comfortable and learn his role, and the Celtics have several more movable contracts at the deadline. I think this is a bit of overreaction to one preseason game.

[Curmudgeon]

This is just another one of those threads designed to make fans of other EC teams feel good about themselves. Having said that, the poor interior defense in the first preseason game is something that needs to be fixed, along with some other issues.

[dorkestra]

I still think they have a chance of making the playoffs

[grindtime22]

Kanter isn't going to be the Celtics starting center.

will it be bob williams?

My guess is it will be Daniel Theis with it possibly eventually being Williams if he starts picking things up.

Theis is a good player that fits what the Celtics want to do. He isn't a chair like Kanter and he isn't completely lost like Williams. He also can space the floor and doesn't need the ball to be effective on the other end.Yes, he will get destroyed by Embiid, but there simply aren't many of those in the league anymore. That is a problem for the postseason where the loss of Horford will really show up defensively.

In the regular season, they will probably cobble together a top 10 defense and be fine except for against a few teams. It's a different animal where you can do things that no longer work in the postseason.

[LewisnotMiller]

Celtics are going to be in the race for the number one pick unless they make some big moves. Can't make the playoffs with no defense. They probably have the worse interia defense in the league, and a really poor defensive point guard. The only thing that can save them is their coach, but even Stevens can not preform miracles with this mess.

Nah, the pick Memphis owes us is top 6 protected this year...

[dorkestra]

Kanter isn't going to be the Celtics starting center.

will it be bob williams?

My guess is it will be Daniel Theis with it possibly eventually being Williams if he starts picking things up.

Theis is a good player that fits what the Celtics want to do. He isn't a chair like Kanter and he isn't completely lost like Williams. He also can space the floor and doesn't need the ball to be effective on the other end.Yes, he will get destroyed by Embiid, but there simply aren't many of those in the league anymore. That is a problem for the postseason where the loss of Horford will really show up defensively.

In the regular season, they will probably cobble together a top 10 defense and be fine except for against a few teams. It's a different animal where you can do things that no longer work in the postseason.

Makes sense - I suppose I'd start Theis with Kanter as the instant offense bench center, but hoping to develop Williams along the way so he can eventually improve his comfort level and awareness.

[manlisten]

I've got them winning 42 games. They essentially have a tank roster on par with the Grizzlies and OKC but not as cohesive as those squads. They would be a 15 seed in the West. I know people like to say it's only preseason but there were some MAJOR red flags in that game and they were all highly predictable. During the stretch where they went down 17 they couldn't manufacture any type of looks on offense and Kemba/Kanter were getting abused on defense every single trip down the court. And this was against the Charlotte Hornets who have the most random assortment of names since Hinkie's Sixers. Stevens seems to be running the same system as last year with his center dictating the offense above the break. This made me realize how much of a crutch Horford was for him because Kanter and Williams aren't equipped for that role whatsoever. They are going to have to scratch and claw for any wins, absolutely nothing is coming easy for that team.

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